1921-1932
As later occurred after the Second World War, Teddington Cricket Club was in a parlous state at the end of the 1914-18 conflict, the pavilion having been largely destroyed and no cricket having been played in Bushy Park since 1914. In 1920, thanks to the sterling efforts of Slade Lucas, W P Harrison, N C Jacks and a few others the Club was revived, members having contributed generously to a fund for the restoration of the pavilion. At the same time, the invaluable Boys’ Club was reconstituted, under the guidance of H W Maude.
Cricket eventually restarted in 1921. The undoubted star of this year was J T Dixon, who took 81 wickets at 12.76, the other six bowlers in the averages having taken 111 between them. Dixon’s feat broke H V Townsend’s club record for wickets in a season. A highlight of the year was the game against the Quidnuncs. Frank Mitchell, a cricket and rugby international, was an old friend of Slade Lucas and his Quidnuncs team was “practically the whole of the 1921 Cambridge XI”, which was an exceptionally strong one, including the Ashton brothers, A P F Chapman and C S Marriott. Of these, Chapman and Marriott can be clearly seen in a photograph in the Minute Book. Teddington, at this time, had only eleven playing members, but gave this formidable opposition a “capital game”, though the scores are not in fact recorded!
The subscription in 1921 was 2 guineas. It is interesting to note that by 1940 it had only risen to 3 guineas!
In 1922, 24 matches were arranged and the score of the MCC game is reproduced in the Minute Book. Teddington were well beaten with 65 against 182 and for MCC the famous Hearne (J T) took six wickets at the age of 55.
1923 was a most successful year for Teddington, only 2 out of 23 1st XI games being lost. At 18, A W Childs Clarke, one of the Club’s best-ever players, scored 494 runs at 38 (including 166 against Richmond) and took 60 wickets at 10.7 with leg-breaks and googlies (including 8 against both Stoics and Richmond) – all other bowlers in the averages took 93 between them! Childs Clarke achieved wider recognition this year when he played for Middlesex against Lancashire. He subsequently played for Northamptonshire and indeed had the rather thankless task of captaining them in 1947 and 1948, when they filled their then regular position of 17th in the County Championship! 1923 also appears to be the first year in which some 2nd XI games were arranged and also a small number of Sunday fixtures.
1924 saw a further large increase in fixtures to 57 in all and significantly the re-establishment of a cricket week in July. This included such formidable opposition as MCC, Hampstead, East Molesey and Stoics. Of these, MCC were beaten by 3 wickets and Hampstead won a close game by 16 runs. However, in an earlier game, Hampstead had lost by 5 runs, collapsing from 169 for 4 to 204, in reply to Teddington’s 209. In the week, Childs Clarke made 182 out of a Teddington score of 338 for 6 against a team raised by John Armitage, one of Teddington’s best players at this time. Armitage allegedly played with a bat weighing 3lb, presumably rather less common then than now! His most notable innings for Teddington was probably in 1923, when on the county ground at Watford, he struck 70 in 20 minutes against West Herts. He also made 76 in similar time against Hampstead. The 1924 season was a rather sad milestone for the Club in that Slade Lucas finally stepped down from the captaincy and was replaced by N C A Jacks.
The 1925 season saw the start of a long period of uncertainty regarding the Club’s ground in Bushy Park. Briefly the then Office of Works proposed to increase the rent for the Teddington ground (and also those of the other clubs in Bushy Park) to levels that would have been quite crippling, with the likelihood that they would have been replaced by clubs attached to Business Houses. A concerted campaign was master-minded by Robin Gerard, in conjunction with the other clubs and with the help of the local MP Colonel F S Jackson. The campaign was lengthy and included a letter by Robin Gerard to The Times and eventually a deputation to the Minister concerned. Thanks mainly to the energy and drive of Robin Gerard a satisfactory conclusion was reached. This was the most important of the very many services performed for Teddington by Robin Gerard, who was later to become Club Captain and President.
On the playing side in 1925 there was a further expansion to more than 60 fixtures. New fixtures were played in the cricket week against St. Thomas’ Hospital and Thespids. This year we were well beaten by MCC, who scored 294 for 8 against 174. They included the eminent critic R C Robertson-Glasgow, who scored 101 and took 5 wickets.
1925 was the first year in which the future Surrey professional Stanley Squires came to prominence with Teddington. At the age of 16, he averaged 32 with the bat and took 60 wickets at 14.9. This included an unbroken stand of 243 with S M Haslip against G S Stephens XI, in a second cricket week that was organised in August. Haslip was another club cricketer of the highest class who played for Middlesex as an amateur. In this 1925 season, he averaged 88 and also took 21 wickets at 12.5.
In 1926, Squires came very close to becoming the first player other than Slade Lucas to reach 1000 runs in a season. He in fact made 966 with a top score of 93 against Southgate, who included former England captain J W H T Douglas (apparently he got out when informed of this!). In the Minute Book, it is gratifying to note that the fielding of the 1st XI was “one of the most satisfactory features of the season – generally well above the standard of club cricket and at times brilliant”. In particular, Brian Simmonds was noted for his excellent work at cover point, when not required to keep wicket. A further notable game in 1926 was against East Molesey, who could only manage 17 in reply to Teddington’s 77! Skipper Robin Gerard did the damage with 7 for 8. There was also a very successful week this year when Childs Clarke made a welcome re-appearance for Teddington, as usual with resounding effect.
1927 opened on a sad note with the death of a longstanding President John Barton, one of the most devoted of all Teddington members. As was only fitting, he was succeeded as President by Slade Lucas. There were two particularly notable performances this season. Both games against the very powerful Hampstead were won (one of them crushingly by 218 for 9 to 55). Also, Douglas Cooke became the first Teddington bowler ever to capture 100 wickets in a season. His full record was 106 wickets at 13.47 and his best performance 8 for 47 against Bank of England. The former South African bowler, S J Pegler, made a solitary appearance in the week and took 7 for 65 against Stoics. Apparently a Stoic by the name of Jackson lunched extremely well and afterwards, by shrewd manipulation of the strike, kept away from Pegler and made 80! For the first time in many years, there was a cash balance at the end of the 1927 season, the pavilion debt having been finally paid off.
1928 was a bad playing year for the Saturday 1st XI, with only 5 wins against 14 defeats. The best win was again over Hampstead when Teddington scored 265 for 2, with a stand of 207 between two teenage batsmen, J F H Tyler (116 not out) and E W Whitfield (99), Whitfield being run out going for a fourth run! The annual two-day game against Richmond was noted in the press for its dour batting, reminiscent of the Roses match. There was also an article in the Thames Valley Times which noted the “Paralysis” of Teddington when facing flighted slow bowling – obviously times have not changed much! Despite the cares of captaincy, Douglas Cooke again took 100 wickets and Jack Tyler became the first Teddington player other than Slade Lucas to score 1000 runs in a season. Apart from Tyler and Whitfield, a third very promising young player emerged in B E L Odhams, one of the many Teddington members from KCS Wimbledon. His best performance was 7 for 15 against Teddington Town.
Results were again indifferent in 1929 with too much depending on the top few batsmen. However, the cricket week was highly successful with 4 wins in 7 games. One noteworthy game was against Thespids, for whom Ian Peebles scored 47 and took 7 for 54. Exactly a year later, he was to be England’s main hope of containing the progress of Don Bradman! MCC were also helped by well-known personalities with the wickets being shared by Jim Sims of Middlesex and author Alec Waugh. The closest game was against Richmond Public Schools who won by 1 run (202 to 201). In addition, we lost by 3 runs (235 vs 238 for 9) against Malden Wanderers, in their Jubilee season. The best all-round performance was by Arthur Childs Clarke, who took 9 for 18 against South American Banks – as the press pointed out, he was playing a lot of cricket this year, while temporarily “resting” from his stage work! Over the season, the new captain Clifford Barton achieved the “mini-double” of 500 runs and 50 wickets. Jack Tyler scored 1177 runs and Douglas Cooke took 104 wickets. Two new members in E C Smethurst and Maurice Amon did very well with the bat and Odhams confirmed his bowling promise with 67 wickets at 12.97.
1930 was a better year with victories slightly outnumbering defeats. Again, the week went very well with 4 wins and only 1 defeat. There was a remarkable game against East Molesey, who could only manage 53 against Teddington’s 70. Walter Robins, who played in the first two Australian Tests this year, took 7 for 31 for East Molesey. The MCC were defeated by 4 runs (170 to 166). Individual performances were rather familiar. Tyler increased his aggregate to 1309 and Cooke took 104 wickets. Odhams again topped the bowling averages with 49 wickets at 9.18. Teddington also had some reflected glory this year, with both Squires (who had joined Richmond to get regular all-day cricket) and Whitfield playing as professionals with Surrey, and both getting runs against Oxford University.
1931 was a season much affected by rain and the 1st XI had 15 wins against 7 defeats. Apart from Cooke, who lapsed somewhat with 82 wickets (including 8 for 14 against Hampstead), the bowling apparently “lacked sting” and many games were left unfinished. Nobody shone particularly with the bat and skipper K R Gray made the only century with 104 not out against Richmond, including a stand of 166 in 75 minutes with A W Marsden-Levy. MCC were again narrowly beaten by 1 wicket.
E H Downey took 7 for 44 and Clifford Barton held no fewer than five slip catches. In the local derby against Teddington Town, there were 300 people present at the start and a hint of the future in the presence of Arthur Crisp, who opened the Town batting and made 52! Stan Squires was awarded his Surrey cap, after making 200 not out against Cambridge University.
There were two highlights in 1932. First, the MCC were beaten narrowly for the third consecutive year (156 to 139) and, secondly, Jack Tyler and Maurice Amon put on 219 for the first wicket against Esher. With Tyler making 114 and Amon 128 including 100 before lunch Teddington declared at 322 for 4 and then dismissed Esher for 115. Over the season, these two again made most runs and Cooke took 81 wickets. For once however, he was excelled by Jimmy Alsford who took 93 with medium-paced out-swingers. Jimmy was the eldest of 4 brothers playing at this time and the Alsford family as a whole has made a tremendous contribution to Teddington Cricket Club over the years.